State Can't Afford To Fund War Vets' Medals

Good news and bad news from the state Capitol for Pennsylvania veterans who served their country during wartime ...

The good news: A state Senate committee approved legislation yesterday creating a special medal to recognize your service: the Pennsylvania Armed Conflict Service Medal.

The bad news: If you want it, you'll have to pay for it.

The Armed Conflict Service Medal will cost between $5 and $10, according to House and Senate officials. The price would include the medal, a ribbon and a lapel pin.

"I think it's pretty damn chintzy," said State Sen. Terry Punt of Franklin County, chairman of the Senate Military and Veterans Affairs Committee. "If we're going to provide some type of medal to those who have served in combat situations, than I think we should bear the cost."

But several state legislators said the state cannot afford to pay for the medals.

"Obviously, it would be most preferable if the Commonwealth's revenues were flush enough to pay for it outright," said state Rep. Samuel Hayes of Huntingdon County.

But times are tough now, said Hayes. And he noted that veterans were required to pay for their medals the last time the state did this, after World War I.

"I think most veterans, when they consider the economy at this particular moment, and the precedent from World War I, they'll probably be accepting of it," said Hayes, a Vietnam War veteran.

The medal provision was approved unanimously yesterday by the state Senate Appropriations Committee. It is part of a bill -- now headed for the Senate floor -- that asks voters to approve a $50 million borrowing in order to give bonuses to Pennsylvania's Persian Gulf War veterans.

The bonuses would be from $100 to $3,000, depending upon how long the recipient served overseas. Another $4,000 would be given to prisoners of war and to the families of veterans killed in the war.

The money would also be used to build a $1.5 million memorial at Fort Indiantown Gap to Pennsylvania veterans.

The debate over the new medal began last year.

In April 1991, the Senate approved a bill, 47-0, that created the Pennsylvania Freedom Defense Campaign Medal and Ribbon.

That medal would have been awarded, free of charge, to all veterans who served in the Persian Gulf during Operation Desert Shield or Desert Storm.

A $100,000 appropriation was included to cover the cost.

After the bill passed the Senate, veterans groups began asking why Persian Gulf War veterans were being singled out, according to Hayes and state Sen. William Stewart, sponsor of the bill.

The state awarded no medal to veterans of World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War or the military operations in the Dominican Republic, Grenada or Panama, according to Hayes.

So Stewart and Hayes agreed to expand the measure to include all post-World War I veterans of armed conflict.

But "When you expanded it to every war ... the cost would would be astronomical," said Stewart. The state could no longer afford it. "It's just a practical reality," he said.

There are 1.46 million veterans in Pennsylvania, according to Fred Walters of the Department of Military Affairs.

It could not be determined yesterday how many of those veterans served during wartime. If it were one-half, and the medals cost $5 to $10 each, the cost to taxpayers would be between $3.65 million $7.3 million.

So Stewart agreed to change his bill to put the burden of paying for the awards on the veterans themselves.

"If I had my druthers, the medal would be for Persian Gulf veterans ... and given for free," said Stewart. "But this is what we got."

Leaders of veterans groups have agreed to the proposal, Stewart said.

"We didn't want it in the bill," countered George W. Mullen, state adjutant for the Veterans of Foreign Wars. "Why should a guy have to pay for his own medal?"